Stenographic machine book and sheet holder



April 6, 1954 L. E. LANHAM STENOGRAPHIC MACHINE BOOK AND SHEET HOLDER Filed June 18, 1952 ATTE! RN EYE Patented Apr. 6, 1954 ATENT OFFICE vSTENOG'RAPHIC MACHINE BOOK AND SHEET HOLDER Lena Edna Lanham, Washington, D. C.

Application June I8, 1952, Serial No. 294,286

(Cl. 1Z0- 28) 3 Claims. l

This invention relates to paper :and book holding attachments adapted to be -positioned on machines such as stenographic machines to facilitate copying and particularly practicing writing on machines of this type, and 4in particular a plate having downwardly extended ends positioned to nest over an elevated portion of a stenographic machine with 'U-shaped book holding frames extending upwardly from the plate and with fingers pivotally mounted on the plate and adapted to be extended for holding sheet material.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an attachment for a machine suchasa stenographic machine that may ibe placed on the 'machine for holding books, papers and the like when de sired and that may readily be removed from the machine when not in use.

Various types of holders have been provided for retaining books in reading positions and for holding music and the like, however, such devices are not adapted for use on a stenographic machine without attaching the device to the machine with screws or other permanent attaching elements. With this thought in mind this invention contemplates a mounting bar or base having downwardly disposed ends whereby the bar may readily be placed over a portion of a machine and whereby with the bar in position U-shaped book holding frames and other devices for holding sheet material will be supported in upwardly extended positions.

The object of this invention is, therefore, to provide means for forming a rack or supporting frame on a machine whereby books, papers and the like may readily be held to facilitate copying and practicing by an operator of a stenographic machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a holder for retaining books, papers and the like in position upon a stenographic machine in which the device is adapted to be positioned on the machine without changing parts of the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device for displaying books, papers and the like on a stenographic machine in which the device is of a simple and economical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in view the invention embodies a plate having downwardly disposed ends with spaced arms mounted on each end of the plate and extended upwardly therefrom and with pairs of wire ngers frictionally mounted on lugs also positioned at the ends of the plate and said ngers being adapted to fold to nested positionsupon the plate.

Other features and advantages .of lthe `invention will appear from `the following vdescription taken in connection with the drawing, wherein-c Figure l is a front elevational view illustrating the position of the book `and paper holder on a stenographic machine, the machine, being shown in dot and dash lines.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the holder.

Figure 3 is an end elevational view fof the holder with the parts shown on lan enlarged scale.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section :through .one end of the holder being .taken on :line 4-4 of Fig. 3. i

Figure 5 is a detail showing the lower end of one of said spring fingers.

Figure 6 is a view showing a blank from which the holder is formed.

Figure 7 is a detail illustrating a modification wherein the spring ngers are pivotally mounted on the upwardly extended arms.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts the improved stenographic machine book and sheet material holder of this invention includes a plate III having downwardly disposed ends II and I2, spaced parallel arms I3 and I4 extended upwardly from one end of the plate, similar arms I5 and I6 extended upwardly from the opposite end of the plate, spring fingers I'I and I8 also extended upwardly from one end of the plate and similar spring lingers I9 and 20 also extended upwardly from the opposite end of the plate.

The edges of the base or mounting plate I0 are provided with notches from which the arms I3, I4, I5, and I6 extend and the upper face of the plate is provided with lugs 2l and 22 upon which the spring fingers are mounted with pins 23 and 24, respectively.

The lower ends of the spring fingers are provided with loops, as indicated by the numeral 25, and as shown in detail in Fig. 5 and ends 2G extended from the loops provide means for retaining the spring fingers in upwardly extended positions and also in folded or nested positions upon the face of the plate as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The downwardly extended ends II and I2 of the plate ID are covered with rubber or other suitable material as indicated by the numeral 21 and, as shown in Fig. 4 the resilient material extends inwardly against the under surface of the plate I0 providing a flange 28 at each end of the holder whereby the rigid material, such as the plate I0 or the ends Il and I2 are spaced from the surface of the material of the stenographic machine.

The ends of the spring fingers may be folded over as indicated at the point 29 in Fig. 4 to eliminate sharp edges that may scratch or tear paper and the like.

In the design illustrated in Fig. '7 spring ngers 3l) having loops 3l at the lower ends are pivotally mounted by pins 32 on arms 33 extended upwardly from a base plate 34, the plate 34 being similar to the plate l0 and having downwardly disposed end sections 35, similar to the ends H and I2.

The spring fingers may, therefore, be mounted upon the holder whereby the spring lingers coact with the arms to hold sheet material or whereby the spring ngers function independently of the arms.

It will be understood, that other modifications within the scope of the appended claims, may be made in the device without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. In a holder for books and sheet material, the combination which comprises a plate having downwardly disposed ends to facilitate retaining the plate in a nested position upon a raised portion of a machine, resilient material on the under surface of the plate and downwardly disposed A ends thereof, pairs of spaced parallel arms exe tended upwardly from said plate, and spring ngers pivotally mounted on the plate and positioned to extend vertically and to be nested upon the surface of the plate.

2. In a holder for books and sheet material. the combination which comprises a mounting plate, flanges covered with resilient material extended from the ends of said mounting plate, pairs of spaced parallel arms extended from the side of the mounting plate opposite to that from which the sections covered with resilient material extend, and spring fingers having loops on one of the ends thereof pivotally mounted on said mounting plate.

3. In a holder for books and sheet material. the combination which comprises a mounting plate. anges covered with resilient material extended from the ends of said mounting plate, pairs of spaced parallel arms extended from the side of the mounting plate opposite to that from which the sections covered with resilient material extend, and spring fingers having loops on one of the ends thereof pivotally mounted on said mounting plate, said spring lingers adapted to extend perpendicular to the mounting plate and also adapted to nest upon said mounting plate.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 783,906 Speilman Feb. 28, 1905 883,433 Utz Mar. 3, 1908 2,046,134 Ryang June 30, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 456,878 Great Britain Nov. 17, 1936 523,150 Great Britain July 8, 1940 

